


A Friday Night In

by winterofsilver



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Tabletop Gaming, D&D!AU, GM Kenma, Gen, Humor, Major violence only because D&D is a really violent game
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-21
Updated: 2020-05-21
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:09:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24308752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/winterofsilver/pseuds/winterofsilver
Summary: What started as a group chat joke turned into six college students gathered around a cramped apartment’s kitchen table surrounded by junk food, extensive notes, and dim lighting on a Friday night. They were ready to enter the fantasy world of Dungeons & Dragons, a place where they could be whoever they wanted and do whatever they pleased. As long as Kenma and the dice allowed it.
Kudos: 8





	A Friday Night In

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! It's been a while since I've written fanfiction 100% seriously (try 7 years haha...) but quarantine really do be hitting different, so I'm ignoring all of my online college responsibilities and writing about fictional characters playing a tabletop game. As usual, the only things in this story that belong to me are the D&D characters I came up with and the exact plot the characters follow through the adventure. Everything else is not my intellectual property and I'm only writing this for fun! Now, just to be safe I'll mention this - I'll be having the characters go through the module “The Lost Mine of Phandalver”, a beginner campaign published by the creators. If you're planning on playing this campaign or are already doing so, spoilers are abound! I also apologize in advance if any characters seem OOC or anything I’m really tryin my best here lmao. Enjoy!

_Friday, 3:52 P.M._

Kenma sighed pointedly when he checked his phone at the end of his programming class. Never in his life before college had he seen more than ten unread messages at once, but here he was now with over seventy sitting on his phone. A now common occurrence for him. Tuning out the end-of-class announcements of his professor and the noises of students leaving the ancient lecture hall, he slung his backpack over his shoulder, put his headphones on, and began to inspect the massive group chat his friends kept, scrolling through the chatter between the others. The last few messages piqued his interest:

**Hinata** : GUYS IM SO EXCITED FOR TONIGHT

**Hinata** : IVE ALWAYS WANTED TO PLAY THIS GAME

**Hinata** : AND I THOUGHT IT WAS A JOKE BUT WERE REALLY DOING IT

**Bokuto** : YEA ME TOO

**Hinata** : AAAAAA

**Bokuto** : AAAAAAAAAAAAA

**Hinata** : WHAT SNACKS SHOULD I BRING?

**Bokuto** : IDK LETS GO SHOPPING FOR STUFF

**Noya** : am i invited to go shopping

**Hinata** : yes come with us!!! the more people we bring the more food we can afford

**Noya** : YES

**Kuroo** : because we all know yall are BROKE

**Noya** : sorry not all of us are rich smh

**Kuroo** : cant help that i chose a good major lol

Seeing the chaos unfold in the group chat, with his friends excited and all ready for later, Kenma couldn’t help but smile a bit to himself as he put his phone away and pushed open the heavy doors of the lecture hall. The cool air from the building gave way to the hazy warmth of the late summer afternoon, almost forcing Kenma to shed his light jacket. Campus was busy at this time of year - not only was there constant construction on the roads (that will probably not be complete even when Kenma graduates in two years) but students of all ages lounged and worked in the wide open spaces between brick buildings. Some pounded away on their keyboards, hunched over laptops on picnic tables, desperate for their programs to work or for their papers to be complete. Others flung frisbees and balls back and forth on the grassy expanse across the street. Kenma was just fine observing and listening to his favorite video game songs. He was even beginning to relax as he made his way back to his apartment on the main road, despite the minor burden he was carrying.

Kenma would be the game master for his friends’ Dungeons and Dragons game tonight.

Inherently, there was nothing really wrong with that. It’s a game that Kenma has enjoyed for years. Playing as fantastical beings wielding otherworldly powers, exploring a unique world with characters crafted by hand… you could say it’s a dream game for someone like Kenma, who loves to play all sorts of games. The problem was that all of his friends were beginners, new to the game. It would be an immense hassle to get them all up to speed, not to mention he was running the whole show, which requires quite a lot of effort… at least the campaign they were playing would be forgiving - it was designed for newcomers, after all.

Before long, Kenma found himself passing through campus and in front of the storefronts of the main road, all the way to the doors of his apartment building. He took the elevator up to the 5th floor and made his way inside his and Kuroo’s apartment.

“Oh my god,” Kenma muttered to himself, gazing upon the state of the main room. “I forgot about this.”

Various belongings of both his and Kuroo’s had been flung everywhere, littering the room. Food wrappers, video game controllers and consoles, jackets, notebooks. Name it, and it was probably on the floor of their apartment. The only organized area was the large, wooden kitchen table, set with all of the materials Kenma and his friends needed for tonight. Character sheets, maps, tokens, dice, and of course, the GM’s area, set with all of the rulebooks and notes that Kenma would need to provide an adventure for the group. Even just looking at the thing stressed him out a bit, so he turned his back on the dirty sink and focused his attention on cleaning the rest of the living area (just so that it could be trashed by his crazy friends later). In the middle of his task, his phone went off again in his pocket.

**Hinata** : hey kenma does this look good?

**Hinata** sent one image

“Wow.”

_Friday, 4:03 P.M._

“Alright boys, who’s driving?” A loud voice reverberated through the thin walls of the large apartment, rattling its inhabitants.

“Bokuto, why are you yelling?” asked the first to see him slam the door to his room open, geared up to leave.

“Because I have so much energy, Akaashi!” he shouted, making his way down the hall and past his other roommate’s rooms to the living room. “There’s no practice on Fridays this semester and all of this energy has to go somewhere.”

Akaashi knew very well what happens to Bokuto on days where there’s no volleyball practice, so he dropped it. His exclamation had him wondering, though, where was he going?

“My car’s in the shop, so I volunteer Yuu,” another voice said, popping in with a head of orange hair from the other hallway.

“No fair, Shouyou! I drove you all to that bar last week.”

“Okay then,” Bokuto sighed, his voice’s volume dropping. “We settle it like warriors.”

The two of them met eyes solemnly and met in the middle of the living room, not dropping eye contact. Hinata and Akaashi looked on, the former intensely immersed in the duel, the latter slightly amused while turning towards the key rack. As if scripted, Bokuto and Nishinoya engaged in a duel.

“Rock, paper, scissors…” the two of them chanted in unison, before yelling out “Shoot!” and revealing their chosen weapon.

“I win!” Nishinoya proclaimed, holding up rock. Bokuto, having chosen scissors, began to refute the result.

“Okay, okay, we do best two out of three!” he pleaded with wide eyes as his roommate laughed to himself.

“That’s not what we agreed to,” Nishinoya pointed out, smugly laughing.

“Yeah, you lost fair and square, Bokuto!” Hinata got out between laughs, amused by the over-the-top theatrics of his two roommates.

Bokuto, looking more dejected by the second, was brought out of his stupor by Akaashi.

“Don’t worry about it guys. I’ll drive,” he said, pulling his keys off of the hook and moving to open the door.

“You’re going to come with us?” Bokuto questioned, perking up.

“Yeah. Someone has to control you three.”

“Alright, boys, let’s get to it,” Nishinoya said as he ran out of the door to the apartment. Bokuto and Hinata followed closely behind, Akaashi locking up and making his way down the stairs last at a much calmer pace. The three were already waiting by Akaashi’s old car down in the apartment’s parking garage, ready to gear up for the night’s activities. Hinata especially gave off an intense aura that almost spoke to Akaashi to hurry up.

The drive to the grocery store was uneventful, filled with conversation about the volleyball team, unfair classes and professors, and of course, anticipation for the game they would be playing tonight, Dungeons and Dragons. Akaashi had to say, though, they were doing a good job at following the advice Kenma gave them and not sharing any details about their characters.

Shortly, the four arrived at the supermarket, tumbling out of the car once Akaashi parked it. For a Friday afternoon in a college town, Akaashi noticed, it was eerily quiet.

“There’s, like, no one here,” Nishinoya observed out loud.

“You would think there would be, since it’s still the beginning of the school year and all,” Bokuto replied. “Either that or everyone’s already taken all of the good stuff.”

“C’mon guys, let's go,” Hinata, with a one-track mind, said as he began to walk towards the entrance.

“We can’t let the kid out of our sight, guys!” Bokuto joked, running after him.

Looking back with an incredulous look on his face and slowing down slightly, Hinata exclaimed, “I’m only two years younger than you, Bokuto!”

“That still makes me your senior, shrimp!” Bokuto laughed, swiftly catching up to Hinata.

The four entered the store and got to work, huddled up in front of the produce near the entrance like they would be at a game.

“We’ll be making our way around clockwise. We only go down aisles with what we want. Skip whatever you think appropriate. Understood?”

Akaashi asked this of them, in hopes that having a concrete plan would contain them somewhat. They all agreed and ran through the store, picking up as much junk food as possible. Chips, frozen foods, Noya’s ice pops, everything that caught their eye they took.

“What kind of Doritos should we get?” asked Hinata as they blazed through the chip aisle.

“Both.” Akaashi answered.

“Yeah, don’t want Kuroo freakin’ out about not having Cool Ranch or whatever.” Theatrically, Nishinoya picked up the blue bag as delicately as possible so as to not touch it more than he had to.

“Do you really not like them that much, Nishinoya?” Akaashi wondered out loud.

“They _disgust_ me,” Nishinoya exclaimed while letting the bag drop into the cart. “Ryu eats them all of the time too. The smell is just - ” He accentuated his statement by fake gagging.

“You better sit far away from him then. Kuroo isn’t much better.”

“I appreciate the warning!”

However, just as Akaashi thought they were going to make it out without a hitch, Nishinoya turned to Bokuto and, with a serious look on his face, stated, “Put me in the cart.”

Bokuto’s face immediately erupted into a grin and before anyone could process the situation, the duo were on their way to check out, Nishinoya on top of their food and Bokuto pushing him along.

“Guys, wait up!” cried Hinata as he chased after, Akaashi not far behind. They got some looks from the few exasperated shoppers after they caught up, checked out (barely), and made their way back to their car by virtue of Bokuto and Noya’s antics.

“I don’t have any money left…” Akaashi sighed as he checked his wallet. “You guys said you didn’t have a lot. I didn’t think it was that bad, though.”

“We kind of got carried away! Sorry,” apologized Bokuto and the others as the crew got into the car, Hinata snapping a picture of the trunk before climbing in with the rest. “I’ll pay you back!”

“You better hope you have more than a five dollar bill at the apartment, then.”

They all erupted into laughter, recalling Akaashi’s face and the barely-hidden mirth of the cashier as Bokuto dug into his pockets and offered the crumpled bank note.

“So,” started Hinata, glancing down at his phone and smiling, “what time do we have to be there again?”

“Five,” Akaashi answered absentmindedly, backing out of the parking space.

“Well, we should probably just head right there.”

Akaashi took a look at his own phone before driving, checking the time himself. The clock read _5:48 P.M._   
Silently, he took the path towards Kenma and Kuroo’s apartment. The rest of the way, they couldn’t help but speak with anticipation about their first D&D game. Akaashi couldn’t help but be excited, too. What would be waiting for them at the table, he wondered?

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for the chapter being incredibly short! (And for the character interactions being pretty stiff...) This is the set-up for what’s to come. To kind of just explain what the structure of the rest of the story will be, I will be making 5 more chapters. This campaign is split into 4 parts, so each part will get its own chapter, as well as a final, short epilogue chapter to wrap things up. This AU isn’t limited to just this fic, though, I’ll probably write more about it with the other characters! If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. Also, just as a fun little thing, I think I’m going to put extra data down here for other college AU headcanons I have for the characters! I’ll start with their majors and some extracurriculars for the characters included. (If you read the manga some of these make extra sense haha)
> 
> Hinata: Undecided, plays for the volleyball team  
> Kuroo: Chemistry major, in the honors college  
> Kenma: Computer Science major with game design focus/Business minor, in the gaming club  
> Akaashi: Literature major, works part-time at the library  
> Nishinoya: Geology major, in the hiking club and the fishing club  
> Bokuto: Communications, plays for the volleyball team


End file.
